The BVE Expo, Business of Production Theatre is always a place to get in touch with current trends in production. In my opinion the talk: Land of the Brave: How bold US dramas are impacting the UK was best of the best of the show.
Chair: Pippa Considine.
Stewart Mackinnon: Executive Producer, Co-Founder: Headline Pictures.
Stewart is an Executive Producer on “The Man in the High Castle”. This is an Amazon TV series based on the book, of the same name, by Philip K Dick.
Stewart gave his life story, but that is better left to his bio on Headline Pictures website.
Stewart MAckinnon
He started out on Documentaries and moved on to Entertainment, being associated with Common Features a production company based in Northern England with the help of Northern Film and Media (NFM), is helping to establish a studio-style movie business in the North-East which can produce batches of films and then sell them around the world. This required a group of 6-7 investors putting in £7 to £60 Million pounds. Stewart was the creative side of the business and his wife did the business side.
Obviously being an Executive Producer money featured prominently in his talk. He made a comment about how to get rich being a producer, he said the best way was to marry a rich wife 🙂 There was a serious theme here, to which I will return.
Stewart likes Long Form drama (High End Drama) and his current Company has pitched several dramas to the BBC. The Man in the High Castle started out as one of these and so the BBC funded the initial development of the show. I believe this is how many shows are initially commissioned in the UK. The commissioner is interested but not sure the program will be a success – so they chip in some development money to get the show rolling. However the show ran into some problems that affects all similar dramas. The BBC, for high end dramas, wants shows that are relevant to an English Audience, the Man in the High Castle is set in America. They also don’t want to spend too much money! As a result the project was dropped by the BBC.
This is very different to the Broadcast business model in the US where they want projects that will sell to the whole world. The development cost is almost ignored because the business is all about the residuals when the show goes to syndication. Note: this still means they are very interested in whether they think the show will be a success.
Stewart [and company] took the project to the US where its potential was recognized and it was funded “green lit”, by Amazon Studios. In the US you can get $300 million for 10 to 20 episodes. About $10 Million per episode. For high quality European dramas the budgets gets to about $1.5 million per episode. To get that you have to shop around to the various state broadcasters.
So the answer to where to get funding for up and coming producers in UK/Europe seems to be to go west. Sometimes those shows are made in Europe (e.g. the Crown [Netflix, Sony Pictures], Game of Thrones [HBO] …) even if funded in the US can be made in Europe. The US will always continue to want to make European stories! The speed of getting a decision, in the US, can take European producers by surprise. The European tradition of Storytelling is very strong and much desired by US Production Companies. Not only that, they may want you make 50 episodes when you have only planned for a few!
However going west has its own problems. Sorry for the aside here, but in the recent show about the making of Dad’s Army (We’re Doomed) there is a scene about Arnold Ridley where he gives some advice: “never sell your rights”. Referring to income (or the lack thereof) in later life. The American business model, being based upon residuals, means that in return for all that production money they will want 100% of the Rights for your project. Stewart talked about Ridley Scott who is a Director on the Man in the High castle. Everyone wants Ridley attached to their project but even Ridley cannot expect Rights. Another advantage to developing in America is that funding decisions can very quickly. There is also the tyranny of “Notes”. Depending on the Production Company writers can get bombarded by Notes. Being on a US Production can produce battle hardened writers (or drive them out of the career forever).
Stewart mentioned that named people on the project will get a “Quote”. For some, e.g. Ridley Scott, they manage to make money by getting good Quotes. Note: Stewart used the term Quote as though that is a standard thing for Directors and Producers. I’ve not managed to find a second source for the use of that term. I may have just mis-heard him.
Writers/Producers may want to stay in the UK/Europe to hold on to their Rights, however there are other challenges. In the UK there seems to be a 10/10/10 rule! There are 10 Producers, 10 writers, 10 directors that get most of the work. So it is very difficult to break into that select group. However in the UK you are entitled to some Rights by Law.
There is a lot of production space available the UK. There are also some major companies that will commission High End Drama. ITV (ITV Studios) has a lot of capacity in the UK. However there are other home-grown problems. ITV is seen as the maker of content for the North West of England. It seems Granada TV is alive and well and dominating ITV production. Press speculation recently has indicated Carolyn McCall will have her work cut out for her trying to accomplish an ITV turnaround. Perhaps making ITV a truly national network would be a big help.
In the UK it can be challenging to get all the money you need for a production. Be prepared to find other investors.
Channel4 makes content for a younger audience. BBC3 also targets a younger audience. The smaller pie for production funding in Britain is segmented and so Producers trying to enter the market are challenged by trying to match their projects
Everything is likely to be upset by Apple.
Stewart gave a talk which was in some ways depressing, particularly over the financial aspects but he was also brim full of ideas. So is Stewart giving up on filmmaking. His final name drop was that he was working with Tommy Gormley and Sarah Purser. A brief lookup on IMDB will reveal what sort of projects he is working on.